Reigning Junior Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and former world number eight Marcos Baghdatis are amongst the headliners of the first batch of wildcards announced by Wimbledon, ahead of the tournament starting in just shy of two weeks.
Swiatek, who was unseeded when she won the Girl’s Singles event last year, will be making her first main draw appearance at the All England Club following a stellar 12 months. In recent weeks, the 18-year-old has reached the fourth round of the French Open, and earlier on in the clay season reached her first WTA Tour final in Lugano.
In contrast, Baghdatis sets at the opposite end of the experience spectrum, with this wildcard guaranteeing a 14th appearance at SW19. The Cypriot has twice reached the last eight at Wimbledon, progressing to the last four in 2006, though has struggled with injury and inconsistency in recent months, with this set to be his first Grand Slam tournament of 2019.
The rest of the main draw wildcards announced are heading to British players, with perhaps the most notable inclusion being that of Paul Jubb. The Brit recently won the NCAA title, and will be making his Grand Slam debut on home soil, whilst there are also Men’s Singles wildcards for Jay Clarke and James Ward. For the Women’s Singles there are wildcards for Harriet Dart and Katie Swan, whilst Heather Watson will be making her tenth appearance at the tournament.
There are further notable names who have received some form of wildcard, with Nicolas Mahut and 2013 runner-up Sabine Lisicki both receiving wildcards into the qualifying draw, as does reigning Boy’s Singles champion Chun Hsin Tseng. The doubles wildcards also include Lleyton Hewitt, who will be playing alongside compatriot Jordan Thompson.
The full list of wildcards can be found on the Wimbledon website.